Wednesday, October 17, 2007

With two weeks remaining before the expiration of the current contract, it looked like a strike was looming for the WGA. A strike authorization vote was taken, sabers were being rattled and the rhetoric escalated on both sides. Craig Mazin talked about the "atrocious" tactics the AMPTP was taking in his post The Bad Guy on the Artful Writer. Then a piece about one of the biggest bones of contention during negotiations--the AMPTP proposal to eliminate the payment of residuals--ran in the L.A. Times.

Yesterday, Variety reported that the studios have taken the residual elimination proposal off the table. Which is good news--although good in the sense of hand-to-hand combat vs. thermonuclear warfare. Writer Howard Rodman writes about how it's time for the studios to share the wealth. And back at the Artful Writer, Craig Mazin posits that the ball is now in the WGA's court for an in-kind concession.

1 comment:

It's interesting to see if it will really happen. A CD I know thinks they won't strike. But a friend who works in distribution said it's almost a certainty. Of course us worker bees won't be affected but it will be odd to see how this town deals with a work stoppage. Bet you anything a comfy table at Starbucks will be harder to get.